Stanton - The Alpha's 1st System

Excerpt…

The more I delve into Star Citizen lore and the planned game universe, the more I’m attracted to exploration. Considering how much I enjoy writing about MMOs and regaling my personal adventures, the idea of exploring deep space and chronicling my journey, similar to the RSI Discovered Series, really should have come to mind much sooner. Well – better late than never. Independent explorers are precisely how the Stanton system was discovered.

Show Transcript

Welcome to another episode of Casual Citizen. An ongoing series about the upcoming first person MMO, Star Citizen by Cloud Imperium Games. I’m your host Alysianah from the Mystic Worlds Gaming Blog. In preparation for the Star Citizen Alpha 3.0 release, we’re going to take a closer look at the Stanton system.

Sit back, relax and enjoy.

BEGIN TRANSMISSIONStanton – The Beginning

The more I delve into Star Citizen lore and the planned game universe, the more I’m attracted to exploration. Considering how much I enjoy writing about MMOs and regaling my personal adventures, the idea of exploring deep space and chronicling my journey, similar to the RSI Discovered Series, really should have come to mind much sooner. Well – better late than never.

Independent explorers are precisely how the Stanton system was discovered. It wasn’t a government funded expedition, conducting research in the best ship science had to offer. Although the details are fuzzy, most agree that the Stanton star system was discovered by a free agent trader. Word of mouth spread the tale of a star system that contained four super earths, immediately habitable by humans. Privateers moved in to capitalize on this extremely rare find. Planets of this size, all within a wide green zone is unusual in its own right. Combined with the large variances in planet ecologies, even more so.

When the existence of Stanton came to the attention of the UEE, they moved in quickly, claiming eminent domain. The official reason was to protect and extend nearby jump lanes. Unfortunately, the original settlers of Stanton hadn’t formalized their colonization by filing the necessary paperwork. Largely made up of homesteaders, prospectors and survivalists, the local populace had no legal rights to Stanton and certainly weren’t in a position to dissuade military forces when they arrived.

Everything Has a Price

The uniqueness of the system and the potential resources that lay in wait, couldn’t overcome the UEE’s economic struggles. In the midst of a down economy from a hundred year colonization drought, the UEE could only afford to do the bare minimum to claim Stanton. Naval engineers performed the small amount of terraforming required and underfunded military outposts were established. Lacking funds to do more, Stanton wasn’t developed further.

Eventually, the decision was made to sell the system piecemeal to the highest bidders. Large corporations were discreetly contacted and asked to bid on whole planets. It’s believed that the winners must have bid trillions to acquire rights to the four super earths, all of which were named after the winning bidders – Hurston Dynamics, Crusader Industries, ArcCorp and Microtech

Stanton Today

Under the management of these corporations, Stanton was industrialized. The four worlds are now dotted with factories, corporate headquarters, testing ranges, mines and other company facilities. Only those working for these corporations or anyone leasing their space, actually live in the Stanton system, most inhabiting company towns.

Stanton is a great place to do business if you need to purchase the products and services offered by Hurston, Crusader, ArcCorp or Microtech. There are also opportunities for cargo hauling the supplies needed to keep these mega-corporations running.

From the ARK Starmap

Stanton I is home to Hurston Dynamics, an aristocratic family-run weapons manufacturing concern which has bled the world dry. They’ve all but destroyed the planet’s ecosystem, killing all indigenous life with their mining and manufacturing process. Hurston supplies several lines of weapons and specialized guns. Hurston also provides munitions to other companies for use and resale. The vast operations are always in need of freelance cargo transportation assistance, mining contract fulfillment and general cheap labor. Traders can also purchase antimatter wholesale and resell to other buyers.

Stanton II, Crusader, is midway between a telluric world and a gas giant. It presents an unusual landscape consisting of a small rocky core shrouded in a deep low density atmosphere. For a time it was home to military constructed lattice of inhabitable floating platforms, which have since been retrofitted for the specific needs to Crusader Industries. This unusual retro fit gives CI the ability to manufacture large scale commercial transport ship at a greatly reduced cost, which is passed on to consumers. The shipyards with huge ships suspended mid atmosphere are eerily beautiful. CI is considered a good employer who provides high quality working conditions and employee amenities. Crusader is one of the nicest visitor ports in the system.

Stanton III, ArcCorp, remains the most visually impressive of the system’s four super-earths. It’s not the most scenic since its entirety is now a constructed world. All of the terrain has been sculpted, zoned and built upon, leaving nothing for nature. ArcCorp builds fusion engines in bulk, using the underground resources on Stanton III to provide engines for hundreds of thousands of civilian spacecraft every year. Here traders can find deals on weapons and a variety of other commodities and they are not discerning sellers. If you have the cash, they will supply the items.

Stanton IV, MicroTech, is large and generally a cold planet due to an error during the UEE terraforming process which caused dense clouds to form in the atmosphere. MicroTech produces MobiGlass which is now a standard piece of digital assistive technology similar to a PDA. MT also specializes in other forms of high tech electronics commonly found in ship systems. Visitors can look for work and cargo updates at Wally’s Bar. Just don’t ask for Wally!

End Quote

Noted Player Professions Related Lore

It’s easy to breeze by the bits of lore giving us hints of player career opportunities embedded in the Galactic Guides. If we more meticulously reconsider the planet descriptions I just read from the ARK Starmap and what’s available in the Stanton Galactic Guide, you can glean the following opportunities related to player professions.

These are career opportunities for more specialized ships. And provide content above the commonly available combat, bounty, mercenary and piracy activities we’re likely to find most everywhere. Tying this information together is a major focus of the career and starmap data found on Alysianahsworld.com.

Star Citizen Alpha 3.0

Stanton is the star system we’ll be inhabiting when Star Citizen alpha 3.0 is deployed. I don’t expect that all of the celestial bodies and/or landing zones will be accessible on day one. As Stanton’s content is made accessible and more game mechanics come online, we’ll begin experiencing CIG’s vision of life among the stars. And as players, we’ll need to become more familiar with the topology of the star systems as their assets come online.

By now you know that I’m a lore buff and am fascinated by the physical universe being built. More importantly, how those two things tie together for player careers and gameplay opportunities. To help you passively become more familiar with Stanton, I’ve published a Stanton Voice Attack Profile that narrates the descriptions from the ARK Starmap.

When time allows, I plan on doing a full series. Please follow the directions linked in the Show Notes to import Alysianah’s Stanton Profile into Voice Attack.

Also check out AlysinahsWorld.com for a matrix of all known systems in the Star Citizen universe, as well as detailed overviews of each star systems composition and dossier pages tailored to show star systems that are relevant to specific player careers such as mining, refueling, etc.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode. If you have, please considering subscribing to my channel and giving this episode a thumbs up. It would be greatly appreciated and doing so helps the show’s visibility, making it easier for others to find their way here.